The day started as usual with a lovely breakfast buffet provided by the hotel. I went for a walk after breakfast to see what was going on in the city. I was surprised at how many things were open and by how many people were out wandering around. The city was bustling with activity. Lots of people were sitting in the cafes having cappuccino and pastries. As the day progressed, they were enjoying an Aperol spritz. 

After my morning wandering, I returned to the hotel and listened to Christmas music and read. It was a nice way to enjoy Christmas.

In the evening, I wandered out again and walked over to the Piazza Bra where the arena is. The whole piazza was crowded with families, tourists and all sorts of people enjoying a pleasantly warm Christmas evening. I sat in one of the cafes and has my Spritz. While sitting there, the couple next to me asked where I was from and we started chatting. She was from Cuba originally but had moved to Spain after college and was an English teacher. She told me she was able to move to Spain as her grandfather was from Spain and that allowed her dual citizenship. She told me that her dream had always been to come to Italy and since moving to Spain in January, this was her second trip. She was very funny as she compared Southern Italy to Cuba. The young man she was with was from Naples and they had met through an app where people were learning to speak Italian and wanted Italians to chat with. They hit it off on the app and he went to visit her in Cuba, then when she moved to Spain he visited her there and she has visited him in Italy twice. It was a fun little diversion to talk to them.

After the Apertivo and chat, I walked over to Dari Ristorante where I had reservations for dinner. It was a very nice and lovely restaurant tucked down a side street. The whole dinner experience was delightful and I spent three hours over dinner. There was a fixed price menu for Christmas and you could get wine as accompaniment.

As per usual, with fancy restaurants, you are offered a glass of sparkling wine. They had an Italian Prosecco made in the traditional champagne method from an area southwest of Lake Garda. It was good and very dry. Along with that came the Amuse Buche which was a slice of quiche Lorraine made with mortadella. They brought homemade bread made from natural whole grains.

My starter was steak tartar. It was very tasty. They offered a white wine with that which surprised me but it was very good. Again from the area around Lake Garda. It was similar to Soave but grows on non-volcanic soils that were pushed up when the glaciers moved through this area and made the lakes and mountains.

Primi piatti was Ravioli with shrimp. This again was served with wine and again confused me as it was red wine. It was light and refreshing and went well with the pasta. Unfortunately, I cannot remember all the names of the wines and did not right them down.

Secondi piatti was braised cow cheeks. The waiter told me that they had been cooked for 12 hours and I can believe it as they were so soft and tender that you did not need a fork to cut them. They had a very intense flavor and had a nice wine sauce with them. For that course, Amarone was the wine of choice.

Dessert was formed chocolate in the shape of Hersheys kisses but not made from milk chocolate. It was a very intense dessert. The dessert wine was moscato.

All in all it was a fantastic dinner in a lovely restaurant.

When the waiter brought the red wines there was a glass bulb with a spout attached. As he poured the wine, the bulb filled up and then he poured the wine from the spout. The idea was to aerate the wine as it was being poured. I have never seen a device like it but it is very clever. I am going to go to a wine store and see if I can find one. It pours exactly the right portion for a serving and aerates the wine.

It was a great way to spend Christmas.

From looking at this blog, you would think all I do in Italy is eat and drink! I do go out and appreciate the city regularly.